Andy Wickett
Andy Wickett (once known as "Fane" in the 1970's) is a singer/song writer from the Birmingham area (UK), and was a member of Duran Duran. His career started in 1977 singing and playing in the band "TV Eye",followed by "Duran Duran", "The Xpertz" and "World Service", and he has played concerts supporting "The Clash", "U2", "Culture Club", "Duran Duran", "Burning Spear" and "Gregory Isaacs",also producing and writing albums with Asian artists "Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan" and "DCS". TV Eye In 1976 Andy Wickett, Eamon Duffy and Dave Kusworth left Moseley Art school Birmingham (UK) and formed the band "TV Eye" with Andy as the singer ,whose music and flamboyant dress sense was influenced by the "New York Dolls".It was Andy's first band and they started to hang around the Birmingham punk scene at "Barbarella's","Rebbecca's" and the "Romulus" nightclubs ."TV Eye" for a period were the darlings of the local music scene in Birmingham and influenced other local bands such as Duran Duran. In the future months Andy, Dave and new guitarist Paul Adams moved into a house in the industrial part of Digbeth Birmingham on a street called Cheapside. They cut a single called "Stevie's Radio Station" but didn't release it because they felt the drums were too fast.This song would eventually form Duran Duran's Rio (song) “The original members of Duran Duran were big fans of "TV Eye", and Nick Rhodes used to go and watch the band rehearse, taking his tape recorder with him. They became friends at this point.Later Andy left "TV Eye" and Duran Duran's vocalist Steven Duffy took his place. Andy was then enlisted to front "Duran Duran" by Nick Rhodes and John Taylor. Duran Duran During the late 1970s Andy rehearsed with Duran Duran and "Vision Collision" in his room at Cheapside Birmingham,whilst Steven Duffy's band "The Hawks" rehearsed downstairs in the veranda.Nick Rhodes described Andy's singing as " having a little bit of "Iggy Pop" in him". Rio At rehearsals Andy would perform "Stevie's Radio Station" with Duran Duran which was their favorite "TV Eye" song. The band continued to use the song after Andy had left, changing the name "Stevie" to "Rio" Girls on Film Andy worked the night shift at the nearby Cadburys chocolate factory in Bournville Birmingham , where he would read books and write songs to kill time working on the conveyor belt, watching chocolates go by.When he wasn't working during the day he would try out his new ideas with Duran Duran. One night he wrote the melody to "Girls on Film", whilst he read a lyric in a book "girls in film they look better, girls in film always smile". John Taylor suggested that he change it to girls 'on' film. Andy told Nick Rhodes to introduce the song by playing the melody on his string machine and the song was born. They recorded the song along with: See Me Repeat Me, Reincarnation, and Working the Steel as part of their first demo ,the "1979 Demo" at Bob Lamb's studio (home of the band UB40) in Moseley Birmingham. Nick Rhodes's father took Nick and John Taylor to see the London record companies. Andy phoned Nick from the factory and was overjoyed to hear that EM and A&M loved his voice and would sign the band if they could produce more songs like Girls on Film. However Andy left the band for personal reasons to join the local reggae outfit "The Xpertz",asking for payment relating to the song and was offered £600 on condition that he signed a waiver. His solicitor advised him to sign the waver as it could be used as evidence that he had been involved in writing their songs. Andy signed the document collecting £600 in £50 notes,buying a keyboard with the payment,but later found that his solicitor no longer thought that he could fight a case for royalties against EMI in court. Teaching Before going their separate ways, Duran Duran still needed Andy’s help, with performance,only now he was a teacher, not a troubadour.“When Simon Le Bon joined the group, their managers Paul and Michael Berrows would pay £10 for him to give Simon singing lessons.He would give him 20 minute sessions, getting him to sing Girls on Film. Band Line-up Fane (Andy Wicketts) - Vocals John Taylor - Guitar Nick Rhodes - Keyboards Roger Taylor - Drums The Xpertz The Xpertz built up a large following in the early eighties and were among the first bands to merge electronica and dub. They played many high profile gigs supported "The Clash", "U2", "Burning Spear", "Culture Club", Orange Juice and Gregory Issacs on his British tour.They attracted interest from major record companies and their single "My Valentine" became record of the week on the John Peel BBC Radio 1 show. Band Line-up Ron Cook - Vocals,Percussion Andy Wickett - Keyboard,Harmonica,Percussion Aleem Panwar - Bass Paul Horton - Guitar Randolph Jordan - Drums World Service In 1988 Andy was approached by local session musicians to record at the BBC, this resulted in the formation of his band "World Service".They were the first British band to tour North Africa and the Sahara regions picking up music and cultural influences on the way.They toured with Duran Duran in the 1990s after meeting them back stage at Duran's N.I.A. Arena concert in Birmingham (UK). Band Line-up Andy Wickett - Vocals,Guitar,Harmonica Roger Cornforth - Bass Nils Hagstrom - Bass Clive Parry - Bass Bill Coleman - Drums Trevor Cornforth - Drums Neil Harris - Drims John Cummins - Drums Jamie Little - Drums Gilly Greiner - Drums Steve Harper - Guitar Bingo - Keyboards Recent Projects He has recently been asked to write songs for the ska band "The Beat" and still performs his band 'World Service" around the Birmingham area, building up a varied and loyal following of enthusiastic supporters. Category:Duran Duran members